the guys who harbored the Al Qaeda terrorists, who gifted us with the 9/11 attacks five years ago

clearly this guy hasn’t read enough 9/11 TWOOF material.

Scheer, the author of the article, is wise to bring up Afghanistan’s opium. Yet look what he writes here, when it comes to details:

Intelligence estimates of the Taliban’s cut of this lucrative trade, which represents over a third of the entire Afghan economy, range up to 70%, according to ABC News.

This is probably false.

While the Taliban & ISI no doubt get revenues from their now limited control of Afghanistan’s opium, I very much doubt they control the lion share. Reports suggest that the Afghan warlords tolerated by the government and not allied with the Taliban — in the central and northern provinces — are in fact pumping out opium, and processing it into heroin.

So Scheer’s call to actually do something about all this opium is a roundabout call to destroy the Taliban. How do you do that? You support the NATO mission. But if the Taliban (the competition) are destroyed, opium will still flow out of the country.

I think they should make it LEGAL to grow opium in Afghanamistan… just to make it offical. It is obviously a very promising cash crop for the average afghan farmer trying to make a good living. This country has got to start somewhere, right. Much like marijuana, poppies are totally natural “dude”. As soon as these substances take drug form they should be deemed: ILLEGAL.

Afghanistan has been and always will be the biggest grower of opium… Nothing new there.

As for the Taliban and there drug profits, these people couldn’t do anything significant with $1,000,000. What more could they possibly do with “a billion”? Buy more guns… ohhhh.

The war in Afghanistan is pretty strait forward: Every spring the bad guys come down of the mountain to start some shit — The good guys go in and kill a hundred or so and run the rest back in their caves. This goes on day after day until it gets cold and everyone goes for a nice winter vacation. Then they pick up where the left off next spring… It really is a beautiful thing.

yeah, makes you wonder at the efficiency with how NATO has dealt with opium processing to this point… if the admin ever needed a hole card to completely tie the ‘war on drugs’ into this ‘war on terror’, well, there you have it.

yeah the Taliban hated opium, and had banned it, which infuriated the CIA, virtual masters of the global drug trade (virtual because no doubt there are many who remain outside their influence and control).

How ‘bout that between a paira buns?

remember, the reason we went into afghanistan in the first place was because of the taliban’s attack on our domestic u.s. economy, this happened in 2000 when the taliban forbid the growing of poppy. their produce went from 3,500 metric tonnes down to 200 metric tonnes.

this is their only source of revenue, yet they still destroyed it.

consequently, the u.s. had a MAJOR economic downturn in 2000 and then the bombs came into afghanistan and the poppy was replanted and now the u.s. economy is doing just fine thankyouverymuch.

http://911research.wtc7.net/talks/financiers/drugs.html

Wow…People are obviously focused on the wrong issues.

In the grand scheme of things, Afghani opium and heroin are hardly an issue. Yes, their crops are up, the outputs are higher than they have been for the past 5 years, but who really cares?

People are worried about more heroin on the street. Good. Let the users have their fix. You won’t see new users taking up heroin because it’s cheap – people that don’t use heroin don’t for a reason, and it has nothing to do with cost. Besides, cheaper heroin means lower property crime for junkies.

Is the Taliban really benefitting from the opium fields? Probably, yes, but those not in the know like to pretend that the Taliban controls 100% of the drug trade in Afghanistan. That’s like saying FARC runs 100% of the cocaine in Colombia. It’s just not so. Do you think eliminating the drug trade in Afghanistan is going to solve its problems? It’ll be about as successful as that War on Drugs in Colombia was – that is to say, not at all.

If you eliminate the funding the Taliban receives from illicit means, they will seek out other illicit means. That doesn’t necessarily mean you give up entirely, but people are just worried about the wrong issues.

Give marginalized people a voice. Build the civil society to the point where the grassroots can ASK for democracy. The stronger you fight the “terrorists” the stronger they become. You can’t create battle-hardened terrorists without battles, which is exactly what’s happening. People need to stop moping about the wrong shit.

moping?

_If you eliminate the funding the Taliban receives from illicit means, they will seek out other illicit means. _

You missed the point, Nachtmacher. The Taliban aren’t growing it, CIA assets are – to support the stock market, to fund illegal wars, to enslave and divide poor neighborhoods in the U.S. One of the reasons for the invasion of Afghanistan was to get the poppy fields going again. You’re right though – if it was legal, it wouldn’t be a source of clandestine power.

Didn’t Kerouac address this whole drug thing way back in the forties or fifties? Seems he said something like, “...anybody got a ciggyboo?”

Truth of the matter is, U.S. and C.I.A. have no damned business meddling in people’s biz halfway around the world. If the afghans and columbians want to grow dope on their own land, they have that right. What if they came here and said, “Quit growing corn, and don’t build any more chevys.”

The U.S. A. is becoming a crock of sh t.

columbians want to grow dope on their own land

yeah, but it’s not just the U.S. that wants Colombia to stop growing cocaine, it’s the U.N. and other governments, so take it up with all of them.

thats what happens when bush and co. CUT AND RAN from the afgan war they didnt finish

the UN drug treaty shitstem is heavily influenced by the US. drugs are worth a lot less when they’re legal, ask al capone. plus all governments profit from being able to police their citizens, invading their privacy.

“In the grand scheme of things, Afghani opium and heroin are hardly an issue.“

Nachtmacher keeps saying this over and over, for about 4 separate threads now. I have no idea how he arrives at such sweeping conclusions.

He goes on to say: “Give marginalized people a voice. Build the civil society to the point where the grassroots can ASK for democracy.“

The reason why there is economic disparity (many poor, few rich) and corruption and war, in Central Asia, is because of things like drugs and oil. That’s a sociological fact, proven time and again. Drugs are a huge deal.

If they’re producing so much opium, how come I still can’t score any? Is it available in big cities?

in the form on heroin it is

The good news, for drug fiends, is that Afghanistan has just harvested its biggest opium crop ever, up a whopping 59% from last year….The street price for illegal heroine…should be way down....

This is great news for everyone. Much less than 1% of any population wants heroine. Young people want a good education and a good job, sports achievements and normal, healthy romance. Why just tolerate hormonally, biologically or socially determined homosexuals, bloggers, winos and the like and not adults who have committed themselves to getting straight off of heroine?

The bad news, for the rest of us, is that in Bush-liberated Afghanistan, billions in drug profits are financing the Taliban. This is another story entirely.

billions in drug profits are financing the Taliban

Once again, I’m not sure that’s who’s benefitting. The Taliban are being accused of it, but it’s more likely benefitting “Northern Alliance” warlords and the U.S. stock market.

yeah the “Northern Alliance” are the old opium warlords that the Taliban had put out of business by banning opium poppy cultivation.

the CIA, virtual masters of the global drug trade

can you please provide a single bit of solid evidence that the CIA is secretly controlling a multi-billion dollar worldwide trade involving both domestic growing and international production and distribution, with the coordinated law enforcement of almost every nation on earth?

if i could, i doubt i’d still be drawing breath.

but i do think many have done a pretty good job documenting specific incidents, like Gary Webb and Michael Rupert.

Webb got too close, so they got to Webb…

Continuity: Thank you for putting oil and drugs in the same statement, because it points out that it’s not the illicit drug trade that’s to blame. It’s the fact that cartels control the product.

OPEC is the big swinging dick of ecnomic policy worldwide. Energy markets, and anything even remortely tied to them (productions costs, leading to consumer’s trust, to consumption to the housing markets) are influenced. Maybe America in Iraq is a good idea – show the major cartels that they will take oil at whatever cost, thereby (even if only rhetorically) undermining some of the power OPEC has.

It’s identical to the drug cartels. It’s quite easy to believe that the U.S. government/CIA are building up the Afghani drug trade for their own gains, but that’s what the cartel leaders do. Pablo Escobar had gross amounts of money and power. George Bush is no different than Pablo.

The product has nothing to do with the situation. The perverse disparities in wealth have, paritally, to do with economies based on the cartel model. Capitalism is based on this principle. It is always better, for a business, to have a monopoly, and it’s never good for the consumer. The United States only cares about the safety and security of its own consumers so that they can keep consuming. The rest of the world can fuck off as far as the USA is concerned.

Well, Nacht, your generalizations are pretty fiery, but it doesn’t change the discussion about the extreme problems unique to areas specifically linked to oil & drugs, which tend to bring about the most vicious geostrategic calamities seen in the last 40 years. You can talk about injustices stemming from sweatshop products, animal-tested make-up, or the dislocation of people & wildlife due to the lumber industry, or conflict diamonds in Africa, globalization of domestic & foreign infrastructure, and so on.

That’s all very good and well when criticizing capitalism or cartels.

But we’re specifically talking about the details about Afghanistan, which is almost exclusively about drugs and to a lesser degree the relevance of its geostrategic location. Same with Iraq, although oil is the main product.

The significance of these 2 specific products — and their linkages to the most criminal, violent enterprises on Earth — have caused economic disparity, war, and global turmoil rarely seen. While other resources, such as produce, sugar, labour pools, precious metals and stones, etc. have been occasional factors in conflicts, oil & drugs are still the kings by far.

Without drugs in the picture, essentially there would little cause for war in Afghanistan (aside from some intrigue pertaining to West vs Russia tension). And without oil in the picture, there would be little cause for war in Iraq (again, aside from normal intrigues potentially found anywhere).

No money, no interest, no power vacuums, no arms, no motives.

“This is great news for everyone. Much less than 1% of any population wants heroine. Young people want a good education and a good job, sports achievements and normal, healthy romance. Why just tolerate hormonally, biologically or socially determined homosexuals, bloggers, winos and the like and not adults who have committed themselves to getting straight off of heroine?”

I have a good connection for H in Beijing…

Just give me a ring…

Senssy: can you please provide a single bit of solid evidence that the CIA is secretly controlling a multi-billion dollar worldwide trade involving both domestic growing and international production and distribution, with the coordinated law enforcement of almost every nation on earth?

You see, these kinds of posts by you just keep burying your credibility as a “concerned guerilla”. You are a fake poster.

Why don’t you just read books by critically acclaimed experts — for instance by professors McCoy or Scott, whose fact-based research has never been successfully dispelled — instead of trolling here? Then you’ll find that not only US intelligence, but most major intelligence agencies have had some serious relations to one of the biggest industries in the world, which is the global drug trade. The CIA doesn’t control every part of the industry. Instead, they are plugged in to the global underworld that controls it. They tend to interact with that underworld regularly for their own benefit and those of their paymasters. That underworld has also merged to some unknown degree with US intelligence as well. The rich & mighty not only have been dabbling in the drug trade and with its shady leaders since the early 19th century, but they helped turn it into the global monstrosity that it is presently.

Chances are, you won’t read about these facts. It’s not your role here to learn. Obviously it’s to troll instead, pretend to fit in by rehashing the latest tolerable dissent, and sqawk ineffectually about how some 9/11 controversies don’t exist, and all sorts of other gype.

Try harder. Troll smarter. Learn subtlety. Then 1 or 2 sincere people might even take you seriously.

You rock Continuity!

If they’re producing so much opium, how come I still can’t score any?

Because your connections suck.

cont, methinks sens likes his world fuzzy and pink

If they’re producing so much opium, how come I still can’t score any?

because for the most part, it’s become a rich mans drug

I want to know whatever happened to Afghani blonde hashish

I am in Thailand and H is pretty easy to get, infact most people on the street will kill, and I mean that in a literal sense, to get you to be one of thier customers.

Just say no.

GI joe….

And if you arent GI Joe, then just get away.

Cynism aside, I’d locate the poppy fields from satellite imaging and torch them non-stop instead of going for firefights. Compensate local farmers and torch them again when they show up. And again. And again.

continuity, you silly shit, I ask for a single bit of evidence that the CIA is currently secretly controlling the drug trade, and you blabber and troll but you can’t give me any. There isn’t a single person on GNN that doesn’t know Scott, Webb, Ruppert, Cockburn, etcs info on the drug trade. I ask for a single piece of evidence of current involvement and you can’t give it to me.

Heh.

Then 1 or 2 sincere people might even take you seriously

the conspiro-tards don’t like me.

The rich & mighty not only have been dabbling in the drug trade and with its shady leaders since the early 19th century, but they helped turn it into the global monstrosity that it is presently

brilliant work Continuity. I’ll bet no one who’s reading this thread knew that at all.

Cynism aside, I’d locate the poppy fields from satellite imaging and torch them non-stop instead of going for firefights. Compensate local farmers and torch them again when they show up. And again. And again.

You and what army? Hopefully not NATO... they’re busy.

As to the rest of this thread… the opium trade definately plays a large part in this conflict…. but I think that the oil/natural gas card is being overlooked here. Oil isn’t just behind the conflict in Iraq… it’s definately part of the reason why we’re in Afghanistan as well. Hamid Karzai used to sit on the board of Unicol. The Taliban were against the construction of a natural gas pipeline seeking to channel resources from the Caspian basin away from Russia.

This war is also what sparked the creation of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization…. a direct response to perceived American interventionism in Central and Western Asia.

Read PNAC’s much bally-hooed statement that called for the invasion of Iraq “an issue that transcends the regime of Saddam Hussein”. They also called for KBR military bases to spread throughout central Asia.

Sorry to bring this up again, I know it’s off-topic, but I’ve been looking for some O for like ten years. I even tried to grow a little garden of P. Somniferum. I got some beautiful flowers, but I quickly realized I would need a much bigger crop to produce anything substantial. It’s like people can get anything but that. My theory was that it’s not nearly as economically lucrative to smuggle bricks of O into the US as it would be Heroin. And I’m not talking about that “Red-Rock” shit that people always try to sell you, which is actually incense you can order out of a catalogue. But there are so many idiots who buy it, put it on weed, and claim they’re “Feeling it.” Yeah, you’re feeling it all right. Feeling stoned. Anyway, are there cities known for opium?

Anyway, are there cities known for opium?

Yes – Terhan

I want to know whatever happened to Afghani blonde hashish,

Afghan Blonde, I think your dealer was spoofing you, the Afghans make a nice sticky black hashish, but not Blonde

Afghan Blonde, I think your dealer was spoofing you, the Afghans make a nice sticky black hashism, but not Blonde

bastards… and they told me it was grown amongst the flowering poppies with nubile virgins that stomped the pollen in wet canvas tents… my illusions are shattered again, bastards

I know it’s off-topic, but I’ve been looking for some O for like ten years

it’s perfectly on-topic.

Just go to New York city or Chicago and ask around. or just Mexico city

Cynism aside, I’d locate the poppy fields from satellite imaging and torch them non-stop instead of going for firefights. Compensate local farmers and torch them again when they show up. And again. And again.

“You and what army? Hopefully not NATO… they’re busy.”

NATO of course, who else. Kill the money line. As for fighting them on their turf, the Soviets proved it’s a loosing war, doing it “conventionaly”. All the shit that’s supposed to protect us by sniffing at our doors … well use it to track bank accounts and send “new clients” to the bankers themselves instead of grilling teachers and journalists.

oil & drugs are still the kings by far.

Don’t forget weapons!

Don’t forget weapons!

Yes, that’s definitely a top priority product too — one of the few that flows out of the great powers, milked from the taxpayers, as opposed to flowing in. The merchants of death love a nice, long fight blessed by their allies in the state.

heh, no one can provide a single bit of evidence to show that the CIA is sekritly the masters of the drug trade…I think this thread is reaching…

PURE GOLD

Yep, I guess your right. I was going to take the bait, but how I can go up against a fisherman like you? I could spend hours copying out information and discussing the nuances of the evidence. Then I thought: you’re a fuckhead.

Uh-oh, the fuckhead doesn’t have any evidence!!!

sorry, all the evidence i had went into larry’s arm….

Pure Gold bump!!!

PURE GOLD BUMP

Big Bump. No evidence exists. You’re absolutely right. In fact, there can’t be any evidence because Western intel is now into money laundering proceeds from smuggled lingerie and baby food.

Snap!